An agronomist says the near perfect 2020 growing conditions were also perfect for growing pests.
Michael Weiss consults for Bayer in central and southern Wisconsin, and says, “We had a good planting date. Everything got planted timely, so when the eggs hatch in the soil, there’s plenty of corn roots there for the larvae to develop on, so I think we just had essentially a bumper crop of corn rootworms this year.”
Weiss tells Brownfield the state ag department’s annual survey of adult rootworms shows the highest beetle pressure in at least five years and the second-highest count in 16 years.
